Democratic Party
The Democratic Party (sometimes called the Emancipation Party, the Catholic Party or the National Party) was a Kerrish political party that was initially founded to campaign for the rights of the underrepresented Catholic majority in the Dominion of Kerwan. Initially concerned solely with achieving equal economic and political rights for the Catholic middle-class, it developed into a mass organisation that campaigned to reform the stale Dominion Council and to extend the franchise to all people over the age of 21. With the outbreak of the Kerrish Wars, it lost ground to radical republicanism in the form of Tionól Ríoga and the KLA, and reluctantly agreed to support Kerrish independence in an effort to stay in touch with Kerrish popular opinion. Following independence, it failed to make an impact upon losing ground among the middle-classes to the Liberal Party, and both parties subsequently merged in 8 BNE to form the National Liberal Party. Formation The party evolved from the Emancipation League, a group of Catholic intellectuals who were campaigning for an end to discrimination against Catholics and reform of the political system that was weighted against them. Kerwan in 49 BNE was a colony of the Russianian Empire, and had a degree of autonomy in the Dominion Council, a directly elected body that dealt with internal affairs. Only around 30% of the population of Kerwan over the age of 21 could vote based on certain property and education requirements. Around 70% of those eligible to vote were Protestant, and the constituencies had been gerrymandered to allow the Protestant south of the country a further advantage. The small number of Catholics who could vote (who themselves were members of the upper-classes) tended to vote for the Liberal Party who were generally more sympathetic to the Catholic cause than the Conservatives. The party, founded in July 49 BNE, quickly attracted a significant amount of support among the Catholic middle-classes, a good proportion of whom could not vote. The won their first seat in the Dominion Council in 42 BNE, and by 37 BNE had extended their influence considerably. They had successfully manged to push through voting reforms in cooperation with the Liberals increasing the franchise among the middle-class, allowing for greater representation of the party in the council. They drew much Catholic support away from the Liberals towards themselves, overtaking the Liberal Party as one of the two largest parties by 33 BNE. Mass party By 33 BNE the party had expanded its goal to include the extension of the franchise to all free people over the age of 21. Its continued campaigning for further Catholic rights helped to attract huge numbers of supporters among the Catholic population. Working-class support began to be gained, as poor Catholics saw through the party as a means to improve their condition. It is interesting to note that the party was a genuinely cross-class organisation, being supported by the Catholic land-owning gentry right down to the working people. However, support was not forthcoming from the Protestant working-classes, who saw their privileged position as being under threat. As a contemporary commentator noted at the time, no matter how low down the social ladder a Protestant was, they could still consider themselves as a member of a dominant race. Political division along sectarian lines became significantly increased as Protestant support for the Conservatives shot up at the expense of the Liberals in order to ensure continued Protestant superiority. It was considered a mass party by 30 BNE, with single Democratic Party rallies being attended by thousands from all social classes. Throughout the country, party banners flew from every window in every town. It is an important point to make however that at the height of its popularity throughout the 20 BNE's that party never advocated Kerrish independence or nationalism. It simply ran on a platform of extension of the franchise and increasing social and economic rights for Catholics. It is this factor that is important in explaining its rapid decline in support in favour of republicanism following the Summer Uprising and the outbreak of the Kerrish Wars. Collapse in support A significant number of Catholics began to lose faith in the party around late 25 BNE and felt that what it was advocating, i.e. equal democratic rights for Catholic and Protestants of all classes within the Dominion and the Russianian Empire, was not enough. They began instead to be drawn to explicitly Kerrish nationalist groups, and this trend was observable across all social classes. The strong sectarian divisions that had been drawn up through Protestant recruitment to the Conservative Party had increased these feelings among Catholics that they were being victimised and prejudiced in their homeland. Republican groups had explicitly been attempting to capture these feelings through the conjuring up of old romantic feelings of Kerrish nationalism in a highly effective propaganda campaign. The founding of Tionól Ríoga Post independence and dissolution